Slave Soldiers and Islam_ The Genesis of a Military System - Daniel Pipes

114

Origins

soldiers

who

fought

before13/634

stayed

on,butfewnewones

wererecruited.

Accordingly,

slaveshadaless

significant

military

roleintheera 13-64/634-84thanat

any

othertime

in

pre-

modernIslamicatehistory.

Setting

apattern

whichheld

through

atleastthenexttwocenturies,unfree

soldiersmoreoften

fought

against

Muslims than

against

non-Muslims. Thiswasso

even

though

mostwarfareinthe

period

13-64/634-684wasdirected

against

non-Muslims.

WhenrebelsattackedCaliphcUthmn(r.23-35/644-56)

in

hisownhouse
in35/656,

unfreesoldiers

fought

onbothsides.

Mughira

b.ShuCbaadvisedcUthmntoarmhismawlas,andhe

didso;

28

severalofthem,

including

ablackslave,fell

defending

him.

29

A

Jewish

slave

foughtbravely

forcUthmnandreceived

hisfreedomasareward? Ontheother
side,

Alib.Abi

.Tlib

calledonacousintocollect
mawlas,

and

presumablytheyjoined

theoffensiveforces? A
year

later,attheBattleoftheCamel,

theslavesof
r.l’alh,

a’ssoldiersfollowedthe

troops

intobattle,a

mawlacarriedhis
flag, and,

inthemidstofbattle,oneofaz-

Zubayr’s

mawlasemittedawar

cry?

The Battleof

S.iffin

betweenAliandMuwiya

in 37/657

markedthe

highpoint

forunfreesoldierparticipation

before

64/684. Most

significantly,

Alihad the

support

of8,000 or

16,000slaveandmawla

troops

outofatotalforceof68,000,

an

impressive

number,even

allowing

for

exaggeration?

Both

he

and

Muwiya gavehigh

command

tounfreeleaders,

Qanbar

theghulmandWarden

theslavemawla

respectively?

4

Under

the

leadership

ofthese

men,

amawlaon

Muwiya’s

sidekilleda

28.AA,5:72;MDh,2:353-54;T,1:3018,3046-50.

29.AA,5:92,98.

30.IbnKhallikin,5:189.

31.AA,5:78.

32.

Followedthe

troops:

T,1:3161;carried

flag:

T,1:3175,3203;

war

cry:T,

1:3190.

33.8,000:T,1:3370-72;16,000:Ibnas-S.ibgh,

al-F?2l

al-Muhimma,

p.

89,

quoted

inal-Kharbfit.l?,al-Mukht(r,p.

284

(without

informationabouttheedi-

tion).

34.T,1:3257.Wardinmusthavebeenaslavemawlabecausehe

was

captured

atIsfahan
by

theMuslims

(Khalffa,p.

168).